Kuala Lumpur's Molecular Tapas Bar

Having A Very Technical Dinner Makes A Full of Wonders

Meeting the chef was one thing, having the chef to cook in front of us wass superb! That was what I had experience last night's dinner held at The Pacifica, Grill & Bar of Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Well, Chef Jeff Ramsey, the expert of molecular madness and was flown in from 38th floor, the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo located at the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower. So here is my most enjoyable and an eye opening dinner.



Opening Aperitif, Pecorino Puff, Olive Cloud
A lovely shot of beer with yakult foam, sweet on top, smooth at the end. I like the puff which make from rice flour and cheese cooked in a microwave, crunchy and very flavoured. The olive foam was very light and interesting, just had that feeling of being in a light diet meal.



Scallop with Pumpkin Sorbet, Red and Tommy Thai
The scallops were so well seasoned and cooked with herbs and spices and having together with a cold pumpkin was delicious and unimagineable. In Red, we had lobster meat and peppers, nice and unique!Tommy Thai yet another example of high tech fine dining, prawn meat wrapper in tom yam gelatine, topped with deep fired prawnhead and garnished with peanut and coconut powder. A real signature dish by itself.



Strawberry and Pesto Spaghetti, Lobster Potato Vanilla and Cucumber Salad
This shaghetti dish was unique, replacing tomato with strawberry looks scary and unthinkable but it was unbelieveable delicious when they were mixed together. Tasted gorgeous. The potato vanilla looked like baby food but oh boy! you can send all to my kitchen. I was so lovely, soft and creamy. The lobster meat was done beautifully. This time we were served with cucumber caviar instead of carrot caviar, it was lovely as the texture taste similar to the real caviar.



Chef Ramsey in action!



Juicy Lamb, Gazpacho, Unagi Pineapple Miso
I had eaten "Xiu Long Bao" where juicy burst out from the "bao" when you bite into it but never ever ate a piece lamb with bursting juice similar to "Xiu Long Bao". Chef Jeff Ramsey told me that the preparing concept is similar to "Xiu Long Bao" where the juice is concealed inside the meat and sealed with meat glue, wow! The cold Gazpacho soup was really delicious using dripping white tomato juicy,a piece of watermelon top over with frozen olive was really spectacular. Well arranged sliced of unagi and pineapple with miso and avacado were deliciously prepared.



Charcoal and Truffle Beef, Miso Soup, Seabass and Soyamilk
This charcoal beef was so delicious, charcoal infused oil was used! Believe it or not, Miso soup incapsuled in a miso jelly, incredible . . . makes me wonder how they do it! Seabass and asparagus cooked in soyamilk came in smoke was an impressive dish!



Caramelized Quail, Blueberries and Laudrel, Saffron Cocoa Capsule, Rasberry and Black Pepper, NY Cheesecake, Areo Choco, Rosemary Gummy
Caramelized quail came with a bed of couliflower cous-cous over green pea broth was so well executed, very well favoured dish. Blueberries jelly like was so rich and juicy. The capsule sweetness gave a kicked taste of saffron . Aero was so light and delicious. Rosemary gummy was really gummy with full of taste. The cheesecake was light too.



Miracle Fruit & Fruit Course
We finished out dinner with a plate of citrus fruits such as lime, lemon, passionfruit, kiwi, grapefruit and plum. What do they have in common? They were real sour citrus fruits. In this last dessert Chef Jeff Ramsey had introduced us to miracle fruit. We ate this miracle fruit first before we continued with the citrus. Wow! those citrus fruits were so delicious sweet! Incredible!

This was what I found out about this miracle fruit. The berry is sweet, and contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. This effect lasts between thirty minutes and two hours. It is not a sweetener, as its effects depend on what is eaten afterwards, but has been used to cause bitter medicine to taste sweet.

I do admit that this is a real delicous dinner and am so impressed. I will defintely go for another molecular food! . . . . Sidney